Sunday, February 14, 2016

Spinach Pancetta Asiago Quiche with Carmelized Onions and Mushrooms

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok so the day is officially over but I'm still posting this recipe that I made for my special someone.

Before... after!
I had some left over spinach in my fridge and an entire carton of eggs, so it was quiche time. You know why I like making quiche? Because I can walk away from the oven and do things like work out for half an hour, and then be rewarded with several meals of deliciousness (and then work out more because pie crust has a freaking unbelievable amount of calories...).

So here is the recipe. You will need:

1 pie crust (I bought mine premade rolled up, you can also make your own or buy it in a tin)
1 pie pan (9-12 inches depending on your mood)
1 pack of pancetta (substitute bacon if you don't have any, or omit for vegetarian version)
1 tbsp (pat) of butter
1 pack of brown (or white) button mushrooms - chopped into quarter or smaller pieces
1 medium sized onion - diced
1 bunch of fresh spinach (or bagged baby spinach or even 1 block frozen spinach) - rinsed/drained
3-4 eggs
1-2 cups of half/half (or milk plus heavy whipping cream, or even just milk)
1 piece of Asiago cheese (enough to grate into half cup)
1 piece of Swiss cheese (optional - if using both cheese enough for quarter cup of both grated)
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg (optional)

To make:

Preheat the oven to 425.

Whisk 3 eggs with 1 cup of half & half until well mixed. If any egg solids cling to the whisk, just discard them (you want to make sure the egg mixture is nice and smooth). Put the egg mixture in the fridge to chill while you cook the other ingredients. The 4th egg and remaining half & half are for in case the egg mixture above isn't enough to cover all the ingredients. For the 10 inch pan I used, I ended up adding one more egg plus half & half. *You can add a pinch of nutmeg to the egg mixture when whisking. It's pretty traditional but it's also optional.

Heat up a pan and sautee the pancetta (it's basically Italian bacon) until it is crisp. Drain most of the oil. Add a pat of butter to the pan and melt in the residual bacon fat. Add the chopped onions and mushrooms. Sautee until caramelized. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. Add the fresh spinach to the pan and wilt. Remove when soft and no longer wet (this helps prevent the quiche from being soggy). If you're using frozen spinach just pop it into the microwave and cook according to instruction. Drain the water when done.

I used a food processor to grate all the cheese. Since I happened to have left over Swiss cheese, I did half Asiago and half Swiss. You can also use parmesan if you don't have either Asiago or Swiss. Just make sure you use a slightly salty cheese for the recipe. If you use just Swiss, make sure you add a teaspoon of salt to the egg mixture. Otherwise, the cheeses will basically salt the quiche pretty well.

Unfurl the pie crust and press into the pie pan. I used a glass dish. You can use ceramic or even metal. I didn't bother pre-baking the pie crust this time.It still came out well. If you choose to pre-bake the crust, just make sure you use some pie weights to keep the crust from warping. Add the cooked pancetta, onions and mushrooms and spinach to the pie and mix to combine. Sprinkle half of the grated cheese on top. Pour in the egg mixture. Sprinkle rest of the cheese on top. *If there isn't enough egg mixture to cover the ingredients, mix the last egg with a cup of half & half and add to the quiche.

Reduce the oven temp to 350F and bake the quiche for 35-45 minutes. You should smell deliciousness around 35-40 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting removing the quiche and inserting a knife in the center. If it comes out clean, then you can cool the quiche for about 10 minutes and then cut to enjoy. Perfect with a little mixed green side salad plus vinaigrette dressing.

Enjoy!

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